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Rogue
This article is a description of the character class '''Rogue'. For a description of the role of rogues within the lore of Warcraft, see Rogue lore. ''For related articles, see Category:Rogues. Overview The Rogue class is the premiere melee DPS dealer, approached in damage only by very well-geared fury warriors. They have access to a wide range of special abilities, which mostly depend upon energy. The mantra of the Rogue is "fastest to kill, fastest to die." Unlike Hunters and Mages who have the ability to deal damage from distance, Rogues must be in close, which often subjects them to tank-like damage input when caught out of stealth. Rogues rely on agility, but should also aim for gear with additional stamina. At the later levels, some rogues opt to use Attack Power. Rogues can only wear leather or cloth armor, cannot wear shields, and can only wield 1-handed weapons (daggers, swords, maces and fist weapons) and ranged weapons. At level 10, they can dual wield two one-handed weapons. At level 20, they gain access to Poisons through a quest. This class is best suited for players who like to creep up on unsuspecting targets and if problems arise, can vanish from sight. Races The Rogue class can be played by the following races: Alliance * Dwarves * Gnomes * Humans * Night Elves Horde * Orcs * Undead * Trolls * Blood Elves ''(Blood Elves are not playable until the release of the 'The Burning Crusade' expansion) All races can play the rogue with equal efficiency, but like any class in World of Warcraft, we should take a deeper look into the Racial Traits and how they affect the gameplay of a rogue. * The Forsaken's (undead) ability Will of the Forsaken which allows an undead rogue to get rid of fear, sleep and charm spells(and any in effect) is a huge benefit in PvP when fighting Priests, Warriors or Warlocks. They also can Cannibalize humanoid or undead mobs and players, helping a rogue's downtime without wasting food, bandages or potions. * Night Elves have increased dodge (an extra +1%), increased stealth (equal to a +1,67 with 5/5 Master of Deception) and are tied with Gnomes for the highest base agility in the game. Night Elves possess the power of Shadowmeld, which functions like stealth, but the player is unable to move, cannot use openers, and is easier to detect. As of patch 1.11, poisons can be applied in shadowmeld without breaking shadowmeld, and players will no longer receive a message saying "a more powerful ability is active" when attempting to shadowmeld out of stealth. Having the choice between Stealth and Shadowmeld can be handy as they do not share cooldowns. * Gnomes have escape artist, which allows a gnome to escape from a root/snare once every couple of minutes without using vanish. They are also tied with Night Elves for the highest base agility in the game. * Dwarves have Find treasure, which puts chests, clams, etc. on the minimap when active, and stoneform an activated ability that clears poison, disease, and bleed effects while also slightly increasing armor for a short period of time. Find Treasure isn't very useful in such things as PvP, but can be handy at very rare times. The dwarf racials are considered by many in the WoW community to be jokes and not useful in the least, although this is questionable. * Humans have 5% increased spirit, as well as a 10% bonus to faction point gain. They also receive a +5 bonus to their sword and mace skills, which gives them a higher chance to hit. In addition, humans have Perception, which greatly increases their stealth detection for 20 seconds when activated. * Trolls have extra regeneration and 10% of their health regeneration remains active in combat and reduces downtime after you get out of combat (and are living). Berserking, combined with Slice and Dice will give you +45% or +55% (depending on rank) attack speed, greatly increasing base damage output and poison procs, and as of the 1.9 patch, no longer requires you to be the victim of a critical strike before being able to be activated, and is now dependent on how injured the Troll is when they go berserk - faster speed with lower health. For Rogues, the ability requires 10 Energy to activate. * Orcs have Blood Fury that increase their dps at the cost of healing; however, their 15% passive resistance to stun effects makes them deadly vs other rogues. * Blood Elves have a racial ability called Mana Tap, which combined with Arcane Torrent allows the rogue to regain 10 energy per Mana Tap used. This can make the Blood Elf Rogue a dangerous foe, as it allows the Rogue to instantly regain some of his or her energy. Starting Attributes Weapons The Rogue class has a few different weapon choices available. Weapon skills you don't start with can be trained in the appropriate capital cities. Ask a guard for the location of the weapon master and each weapon master will be able to tell you not only what he can teach you but where you need to go to learn the other skills. Weapon Choices Are: *Dagger *Thrown *Swords (One Handed) *Bows *Crossbows *Guns *Maces (One Handed) *Fist Weapons Using different weapons will probably affect the way you apply your talent points with this class. Some abilities, such as ambush and backstab, can only be done with a dagger in your main hand. If you are looking for a melee damage dealer that fights alongside a tank but is not the tank, then a sword or mace is probably the weapon for you. If you are looking for a stealthy class that can do amazing damage with opening and finishing abilities then dagger will probably interest you most. Dagger rogues are generally built more for burst damage and favored in PvP, sword and mace rogues are usually built for slightly lower sustained damage. Many rogue abilities are instant attacks based on the weapon damage of your main hand weapon, so it is desirable to use a main hand weapon with high damage. Typically slower weapons offer higher damage ranges which increase the effectiveness of your instant abilities. They are often more effective than quick attacking weapons, due to their very low damage range. As of patch 1.8, weapon speed no longer affects the Attack Power damage bonus given to most instant attacks. They instead use a set multiplier based on the weapon type. Instant attacks using a dagger now use the set number of 1.7, while one-handed weapons such as swords and maces use the set number of 2.4. There is an exception to this rule in that Hemorrhage and Ghostly Strike are not normalized (affected by this change) in which case very slow weapons will have greater overall impact. The normalized damage for a weapon used for instant attacks can be calculated as follows: normalized_damage = base_weapon_damage + (X * Attack Power / 14) where X = 1.7 for daggers, 2.4 for swords, maces, and fist weapons, or the listed weapon speed if using Hemorrhage or Ghostly Strike. Although weapon speed for normalized attacks does not contribute to the bonus damage from Attack Power, slower weapons have higher base damage and thus cause more damage overall. Having some form of weapon swap macro can be very useful for a rogue. Sinister Strikes are substantially more effective with slow non-dagger weapons. With a weapon swapping macro, it's possible to use a dagger to ambush before switching to a slower main hand weapon for regular combat. Note that swapping weapons triggers the global cooldown, but if timed correctly (i.e. while energy is recharging) this can be a very effective technique. Weapons held in the off-hand are not used for any instant attacks, and so their damage contribution is straightforward. Off-hand attacks suffer a damage penalty. In order to apply poisons at a higher rate, a fast off-hand weapon is generally desired. Most players choose to use the same type of off-hand as the main hand (in order to benefit from weapon specialization talents), but some prefer to use the fastest dagger available in order to quickly apply poisons and interrupt spellcasters. Notable weapons Swords * — level 24 (19 required) Bind on Pickup superior sword from Edwin VanCleef in the Deadmines. * — Quest reward from the Ras Frostwhisper quest line in Scholomance * — level 44 (33 required) from Horde quest Into the Scarlet Monastery from Varimathras in the Undercity. * — Quest reward from the Maraudon quest where you need to kill Princess * — level 44 (37 required) from quest Bring the End from Andrew Brownell in the Undercity. * — level 56 (51 required) Bind on Equip epic sword. Random world drop. * — level 63 (58 required) Bind on Pickup superior sword from Rend Blackhand of Blackrock Spire. * — level 63 (58 required) Bind on Pickup superior sword from Rend Blackhand of Blackrock Spire. * — Quest reward from Silithus * — level 66 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic sword (offhand) from Bloodlord Mandokir in the Zul'Gurub instance. * — level 70 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic sword from Garr in the Molten Core instance. * — level 74 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic sword from Onyxia from Onyxia's Lair. * — level 77 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic sword from Chromaggus in Blackwing Lair. * — level 77 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic sword from Fankriss the Unyielding in Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. Daggers * — level 26 (21 required), drops off , a rare monster in Westfall. * — level 44, Bind on Pickup reward dagger from , an Alliance quest in Southshore. * — level 44 (39 required) Bind on Pickup, drops off , the final boss in Razorfen Downs. * — level 47 (42 required) Bind on Equip, highest damage rare dagger until Barman Shanker * level 55 (50 required), World Drop * — level 55 (50 required) Bind on Pickup, drops off in the Blackrock Depths instance. * — level 68 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic dagger from Hakkar the Soulflayer in the Zul'Gurub instance. * — level 69 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic dagger from Garr in the Molten Core instance. * — level 77 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic dagger from Ragnaros in the Molten Core instance. * — level 74 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic dagger from Vaelastrasz the Corrupt in the Blackwing Lair instance. * — level 70 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic dagger from Majordomo Executus in the Molten Core instance. also see: Epic dagger analysis Maces * — level 65 (60 required) Bind on Pickup, requires revered with Alterac Valley (Alliance only) * — level 62 (57 required) Bind on Equip superior mace. Random world drop. * — level 66 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic mace from Kazzak in Blasted Lands. * — level 72 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic mace from Ossirian the Unscarred in Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. * — level 83 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic mace. Has a small chance of dropping from the various trash mobs in Naxxramas. Fist Weapons * — level 65 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic fist weapon from High Priest Thekal in Zul'Gurub. * — level 65 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic fist weapon from High Priestess Arlokk in Zul'Gurub. * — level 75 (60 required) Bind on Pickup epic fist weapon from Firemaw in Blackwing Lair. * — level 88 (60 required) Bind on Picup epic fist weapon from Sapphiron in Naxxramas. Abilities This section provides a taste of the abilities of the rogue. For more detail, see Detailed Rogue Abilities Stealth Rogues have the ability to stealth and become essentially invisible. If they are detected, they will become translucent, but still difficult to see. Staying behind your target will maintain the lowest chance of being detected. You can make yourself harder to detect through talents(Master of Deception), items(Darkmantle Boots, Whisperwalk Boots, Nightscape Boots, Figurine - Black Pearl Panther), and with a stealth enchantment to one's cloak. Players and mobs that are above your level have a better chance of detecting you. However, a player or mob of any level will see you if you walk close enough in front of them. Also, when a monster is almost near enough to detect you, it will make a noise and look in your direction. As long as you don't get too much closer to the monster while it is facing you, it will not detect you, and will continue whatever it was doing after a few seconds. At level 22 you also gain the ability to cause a distraction to make monsters look in the direction you want, so you can sneak up with very little chance of being seen. However, you move slower in stealth depending on the Rank of your skill. You can increase that movement speed with talent points spent on fleet footed or camouflage - 3% per talent point, topping at 15%. You can also use Sprint while stealthed to increase your speed, not breaking your stealth. Any other items that increase your speed will break stealth upon use, but you can re-stealth or use the item prior to activating stealth. Note: Adding Minor Speed enchantment to your boots is important for a Rogue. It's an extra 8% which works in and out of stealth, sometimes critical when trying to get in range of your opponent. Fleet footed does NOT stack with other movement speed increasing effects. Poisons The Poisons skill is a secondary skill, similar to Cooking or First Aid, that is available only to rogues. The Poisons skill allows the rogue to brew poisons, which can then be applied to their weapons. Poisons generally either cause damage to the target (either instantly or as damage over time) or cause other effects (slowing the target, removing the effectiveness of healing on the target, etc.). Different weapons can have different poisons applied, and faster weapons cause the poison to proc more often. Poisons are a temporary weapon buff, and as such do not stack with other enhancements such as sharpening stones or buffs from shaman totems. All poisons have a timer, which generally lasts 30 minutes. Some also have charges, the number of times they can be applied to a targer before needing reapplication (higher level poisons will have higher numbers of charges). These are both displayed on the weapons properties when you mouse over the weapon. As of patch 1.10 applying poison will not break stealth or shadowmeld; previously to this, applying poisons would break these states. As of patch 1.12, poisons do not remain on weapons through zoning between continents or into instances. With the release of the 2.0.1 patch, poisons on your weapons persist through zoning(During a brief period after patch 1.11, poisons would remain though zoning, but according to Blizzard this caused technical issues and excessive server overload and was quickly rescinded). A variety of talents in the Assassination skill tree enhance the use of poisons. Wearing 3 or more pieces of the Bloodfang Armor set increases the chance to apply poisons by 5%, as does a trinket called the Venomous Totem Lockpicking Rogues have the ability to obtain the skill of Lockpicking. This allows them to pick lockboxes in the game which no other class can do except with the help of a blacksmith, and open locked doors which no other class can do except with the help of an engineer. Just like gathering skills the lockboxes range from red-grey skill indicating the difficulty. Your Max lockpicking increases at the same rate as weapon skills (5 * Level). Stuns * Cheap Shot Stuns a target for 4 seconds. This is a very useful opener that requires stealth and usually allows the rogue to get 1 or 2 instant attacks off in addition to auto-attacks before an opponent can recover. * Kidney Shot Kidney shot is an excellent finishing move. It can keep a PvP opponent stunned long enough for you to kill them (especially if you master stun-locking). But in PvE it's also a great ability to help keep your groupmates alive or to interrupt a spell being cast. * Gouge Similar to a stun, but a very important skill that incapacitates your target. This is used frequently to stall an opponent allowing you time to regenerate energy and get behind your opponent to allow a backstab. This move turns off auto-attack when used. * Mace Specialization. Placing talent points in mace specialization under the combat tree gives your maces a chance on hit to stun your opponent for 3 seconds. With one point in this talent you have a 6% chance of stunning your target, more point can bring this up to 10%. Players should note that diminishing returns apply to most if not all stuns. Talents * Note: Rogue Talents have been reviewed and revamped as of Patch 1.12. Rogue Talents are split into 3 categories: * Assassination * Combat * Subtlety Talent builders can be found at Official Blizzard site, Panda Hideout, WoW Vault, and ThottBot, Merciless. See the rogue talents page for further details. See the common Rogue Builds for some ideas to building your Talent Tree. Useful Add-ons This sections lists some of the more helpful mods specifically for the Rogue class. ; CCWatch : Displays a progress bar with the duration of your sap, cheap shot, gouge, kidney shot and blind. This is extremely useful to time your attacks, and keep the opponent stun locked. ; EnergyWatch V2 : Displays a progress bar that fills, empties, and refills in time with your energy recharge tick. This can be extremely useful for timing that Cheapshot or Ambush so you tick immediately and have extra energy for a Gouge etc. ; LazyRogue : LazyRogue is an addon for helping you optimize your Rogue gameplay. It is ideal if you want to reduce tedious repetitive actions, maximize your DPS, and learn more about optimal Rogue ability use. Note: Lazyrogue does not work in versions 2.0.1 and after ; PoisonMaster : Takes the math out of those Shady Dealer visits by allowing you to preselect the number and types of poisons you want to carry, and then automating the materials purchasing / creation of those poisons. ; RogueAgentSE : Two small buttons at the mini-map displays the current number of blinding powder and flash powder in your bag. This is particular helpful if you often forget to restock those two reagents. ; SpellAlert : Notifies the player when someone begins to cast a spell. This is great since it lets you know when to kick, blind or stun the opponent; quite handy if you prefer not to be polymorphed. ; WeaponQuickSwap : Useful for the rogue who likes to keep something other than a dagger equipped, but doesn't want to lose the use of dagger-based abilities. These and more rogue-add-ons can be downloaded from Curse Gaming. End-Game Expectations Your main priority is melee DPS. You use your aggro reducing abilities (such as Feint and Vanish) effectively. Often, rogues will not receive heals, so expect to use bandages, potions, and other consumables for healing. Healthstones are ideal as you can carry a few(different ranks, and/or the improved versions) so long as the warlocks are willing to conjure them. Rogues must attain 300 First Aid for raids. In several instances, most notably, Molten Core, most mobs are completely resistant to poison effects; therefore, a prepared rogue will have Sharpening Stones or Elemental Sharpening Stones on hand to increase their damage. In Blackwing Lair, however, the mobs are not invulnerable to all Poisons. Unfortunately, most of your stunning abilities are not useful in end-game situations since many mobs are immune to stuns. In some fights, certain strategies require stuns (Razorgore, Majordomo, Battleguard Sartura). Many fights, if not all, require rogues. Notable among them are Vaelastrasz and Broodlord Lashlayer. In the Vaelastraz fight, rogue DPS is key to ending the fight before the Essence of the Red buff wears off. Rogues will not get Burning Adrenaline unless they pull aggro, so their dps will be constant throughout the whole fight. In ranged DPS fights, such as Shazzrah, the rogue's job is usually contained to ranged dps or bandaging other raid members. See Also * See Rogue Gear Guide for detailed information about choice of rogue equipment. * See Starting a Rogue for some advice when starting out. * See Rogue Sets for discussion of set items for Rogues. * See Rogue Solo List for details how to do what rogues do best, assassinate instance bosses and solo quests. * See Stealth Run for Solo or Duo-able dungeons. * See Flintlocke's Guide To Azeroth for a glimpse of what the world would be like if there were no rogues. Some good info at the official WoW forums: * Rogue FAQ v4 (replies are broken) * Rogue FAQ Replies Thread * Lockpicking FAQ Category:Classes